Category Archives: Rant

It’s a strong foundation that counts

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This letter is a follow up from my original letter “Standards are unrealistic” and a response to the Ministry of Education’s quotes in Today’s news story “Primary school maths: A vicious circle”. I have sent this to Today Voices editor, hopefully it gets published  and it has been published here.

Dear Voices Editor,

I refer to the story “Primary school maths: A vicious circle” (Today, 8 May). I thank the Today team for following up from my original letter and sharing a range of views on the issues in local education.

After my letter was published, it was shared widely on social media channels and I took some time to read through the numerous responses from other parents. What was disheartening to read was a common thread that our opinions would fall on deaf ears.

The Ministry’s responses ranged from (I paraphrase) “PSLE  mathematics has not gotten more difficult” to “subject syllabi is regularly based on widespread consultation”, driving home the point that Ministry may not have grasped our grievances and is all too quick to dismiss public feedback.

Now, it would be challenging for the layman to dispute the Ministry’s stand that mathematics standards have not changed over the years, given that we are not steeped in pedagogical methods. What we do see clearly is a gradual destabilization of the education system as it shifts responsibility for learning from schools to tuition centres. This opens up a massive divide between those who can afford tuition, and those who can’t.

Such a situation can’t possibly be meritocratic in any sense.

I do not disagree with providing a small proportion of challenging problems to help determine the cream of the crop. I have aced my studies, won a scholarship and taken on numerous challenges with the relentless drive to become the best in my cohort. I know what the MOE is driving at because I am a product of its system (and my mum’s constant nagging).

However, I do remember being drilled with a strong foundation in the basics in primary school. The glaring difference today is that so much emphasis is placed on learning how to answer the “tough” questions, the students end up with shaky basics in arithmetic, grammar or second language.

If you look at the English curriculum, students are encouraged to memorize and use flowery, pretentious sentences simply for the sake of doing so. As an ex-journalist with a decade of professional writing experience, this goes against every principle of concise communication skills. There is no point writing a dozen complex sentences when you can express the same idea with one simple phrase.

A local university professor remarked to me recently that the standards of his students’ communication skills have actually dropped over the years. How did that happen?

As a parent, I can only hope that the MOE is able to accept our honest feedback and be willing to take a good, hard look at the system. I do fear for our children as they get haplessly caught in this vicious circle that has no end in sight.

 

Ian Tan Yong Hoe

Crippling Learning With Unrealistic Standards

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I was reading a past-year Primary Three mathematics exam paper this evening – with all its ridiculous problem sums – when I decided to write this long-overdue letter and send it to the newspaper forums in Singapore. I also posted it on my Facebook page. The Chinese translation comes courtesy of a good friend.

The Today newspaper published it here, and Lianhe Zaobao published it here. Thank you to the editors who deemed it fit to be published, and to the many parents and readers who shared it across social media. The Straits Times rejected the article as it wanted exclusivity on the piece and it found out Today had published it.

The primary school education system in Singapore has been the point of much debate among educators and parents for a long time now.

As a product of the system in the 1980s, and now a father of two children in Primary One and Three, I fear that the system has become one of irrelevant and unrealistic standards. And I come from the perspective of being someone who has excelled within the old system, yet have always questioned the relevancy of the content we were taught in real-world settings.

Sadly, the situation has only gotten worse.

Let’s take primary school mathematics as an example – why are students being asked to solve questions of higher level logic at such a young age? Does it make them more creative in problem-solving? Does it help them when they are faced with heuristic problems that even adults don’t have to deal with in the workplace? No, it only leads to more rote-learning of – ironically – heuristic methods. The vast selection of assessment books and tuition centers that teach heuristics is testimony to this claim.

Another observation is that school teachers sometimes do not have the opportunity to reinforce the basics of simple arithmetic, and are forced to make their students do sums that are more useful in weeding out mathematical geniuses than genuinely impart knowledge. Within the cramped periods of each school day, it is simply impossible for teachers to cover all the bases in today’s punishing curriculum.

It’s no longer a matter of excelling in class, but to simply pass Mathematics today, it is mandatory to have tuition to fill the gaps that school teachers sometimes struggle to fill. If so many students require tuition, then it means our education system has failed in its basic goal of imparting the correct skill sets.

My wife, a university honours graduate, gave up her job to coach the children at home, but is herself exasperated at the standards required of students today. I have yet to observe any beneficial efforts of pushing children so hard at the primary school level apart from high stress levels and sapping of intellectual curiosity.

Apart from removing the joy in learning, another side effect of today’s education system is that my children hardly have time to enjoy childhood. They have less time to play outdoors, to read their favorite books (which is a great way to improve one’s English), to explore new hobbies or simply to learn about the world around them. All because they have so much homework to do.

I could go on about the other subjects, but the scenarios are the same. The schools are not teaching less, nor are the students learning more.

Ian Tan Yong Hoe

*********

And here’s the Chinese translation as done by a great friend. This goes to Zaobao.

不切实际的教育标准：学习的绊脚石

长久以来，新加坡小学教育制度是导师和家长们热烈辩论的课题。

我出身于80年代的教育制度，现在已是两名就读小一和小三孩子的父亲，我担忧本地教育制度已是个不切实际并与现实脱节的制度。尽管在当年教育制度下考取好成绩，我当时已经质疑校园所吸收的知识在现实生活中能有多大用处。

遗憾的是，这种情况每况愈下。

就 拿小学数学作例子。为什么学生们必须在年幼时就学习解答更高年级的逻辑习题？这是否真能协助他们以创意思维克服人生障碍？让小学生面对这些成年人在工作 上都无需接触的启发式问题，是否真对学生们有帮助？矛盾的是，这只会导致小学生用死记硬背来学习启发式演算法。课外教材泛滥，补习中心如雨后春笋冒出，足 以证明这一点。

我观察到的另一点是，小学教师往往没有机会着重灌输数学演算法的基础知识，而被迫让学生解答高难度习题。与其传授实用知识，这些深奥习题更像是为选拔数学天才而设。在学习时间有限的学堂，期望教师们在教导现今艰难的课程时面面俱到，是不可能的任务。

今时今日，让小孩子补习，以补充学校教师有时无法或没有时间传授的知识是一个必要。家长这么做，不再是要孩子名列前茅，而只为了让他们能够数学及格，仅此而已。如果这么多学生需要补习，这意味我们的教育制度在传授正确技能这个基本目标方面，是失败了。

我太太是大学荣誉毕业生，为了在家督导孩子而放弃事业，对于小学生面对的严苛考测标准，她感到忧愤。在小学水平就要学生们面对严峻学习挑战，除了带来高度压力，削弱孩童学习好奇心之外，我至今仍然看不出有什么好处。

浇灭学习乐趣不说，现今教育制度的另一个副作用是我的孩子已没有时间好好享受童年。他们没有多余时间进行户外玩乐、或阅读心爱书籍（这是提升语文水平的好方法）、或尝试新嗜好、或只是单纯探索身边周遭的一景一物。这都归咎于他们有太多功课要完成。

对于数学以外的其它科目，情况也是大同小异。学校并没教得更少，学生同时也没学得更多。

陈永和

Dealing with our transport woes

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Photo from Yahoo Singapore

Our transport system is hurting on many levels and it has reached a point where the average Singaporean doesn’t really know where to turn to for a better alternative.

Cars have become exorbitantly expensive again, with COEs reaching S$92,000 this month. To put things in perspective, my 3-year-old Toyota Corolla Altis cost me S$49,000 including the COE when it was new. Today you would have to pay about S$120,000. So if you’re buying a car, it doesn’t make sense to buy anything but a luxury model since you’re going to be wiping out your bank account anyway. One can understand the need for restricting the car population, but poor management of the system over the 2000s by LTA led to an unrealistic availability of COEs and increased jams. We’re now suffering the shock effects of patching the system to reduce the car population.

To make things worse, the ERP road pricing system is broken too. At 830am in the morning, cars are still travelling on the Central Expressway (CTE) regardless of the toll fares that you would have to pay. The alternative of taking a detour back home is even more frustrating because of the peak-hour jams. What I find annoying is being charged on the way back home (twice) to Bishan because I happen to stay in the north and the CTE has always been heavily utilized. People staying in the other parts of the island don’t get charged for taking the AYE or PIE home.

The bit that really grates me is that ERP prices can vary over a period of 5 miserable minutes (eg. 8.00am to 8.05am). Seriously, LTA, does it really make a difference? I don’t step out of my house with clockwork timing. Nobody does.

The SMRT train system appears to be suffering from recurring cancer. Ever since the major breakdown occured last December, the breakdowns have only gotten more frequent (3 times in 3 consecutive days this past week!) even on newer lines. It is like the infrastructure is protesting against its owners. I don’t dare to take the SMRT to work any more, lest I get stuck with thousands of people trying to get on a bus bridging service that doesn’t know where to go. It’s a perfect storm of system overload, poor future planning and poor maintenance. Who’s suffering? Millions of passengers, while the ex-CEO is happily blogging about her past achievements at SMRT and has quickly gotten a new job at Lippo.

Taxis, ah taxis. Possibly the world’s most complicated taxi surcharge system is in place, and you still can’t find a cab when you need one. They keep raising the fares, but one never sees an improvement in availability. I find it ridiculous that I have to pay over $10 for a short trip through town. I have a very low opinion of the taxi companies in Singapore – they really don’t put the customer first, and no longer regard themselves as public transport providers. The way they run the companies in turn influence the behavior of the taxi drivers in Singapore, many who see themselves as being part of a business rather than providing a necessary service.

Public buses used to be my main mode of transport when I was a student. However, it can be immensely frustrating to wait for a bus these days as the clogged roads mean that your bus can take 30-40 min to arrive. The Govt is pumping over a billion dollars to buy more buses for the privately-run bus companies (I know, it’s our tax dollars funding private companies), but the net effect is probably less crowded buses and more road congestion. And since they took out most of the seats in today’s modern buses, I do dread the standing and squeezing between people just to get out of the exit door.

Now amid all this hand-wringing, I do give thanks to the SAF for forcing me to learn how to ride a motorcycle back in 1996 as a recce trooper. It opened up my eyes to the joys of riding. Most Singaporeans will not even consider riding a motorbike due to the high accident rates, and it is often stigmatized as a mode of transport for low-income folks (“Who me, ride a bike?”) and despatch riders. There is no doubt that riding bikes (be it motorcycles or bicycles) is risky in Singapore where many car drivers have poor road manners and driving skills.

However, riders who have driving experience for many years do find it manageable on the roads as long as you don’t ride like some of the hell-riders on the streets who weave in and out of lanes recklessly. Unlike 99% of riders, I pile on the protective gear like gloves, full-faced helmet and armored jacket for every ride.

And largely unseen to most of the driving population, there is a large group of middle to high-income folks who ride bikes for pleasure. You don’t see them unless you look out for them and their hot rods.

One thing that does stop people from riding is the sheer ordeal of getting a Class 2 licence if you want to get a nice model above 400cc. I skipped owning a Class 2B bike because they are underpowered and are largely skimpy-looking. I really like my current Kawasaki Ninja 250R (Class 2A) but it does need a bit more oomph in the torque department.

One has to take three tests (Class 2B, 2A and 2) and wait at least three years (if you don’t fail any of the tests). It’s extremely painful if you don’t have much free time and thus it is unlikely that Singapore will become a bike-riding nation soon. It’s better that way anyway, since so many young men do not have the maturity to ride with proper road etiquette or care for their own lives.

So with all this issues at hand, what are we to do? Isn’t it ironic that in a small country like Singapore, we are finding it difficult just to get around?

A post on punctuality

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In the past few weeks, I’ve encountered three persons who treat punctuality as an unimportant and unnoticeable matter. In totality, they wasted about two hours of my time, which is very important and noticeable to me.

I write this post – which will take you less than five minutes to read – to tell you that you do yourself, as well as the people you’re holding up, a grave disservice.And that I won’t hesitate to tell you off right there and then. Perhaps I’ll be nice about it, but I’ll still do it. Also because you deserve it.

I believe most of us want to be upright and good, or at least perceived as such. The imagery of knights continue to inspire many young kids to heroism or at least gentlemanly behavior. Key attributes of a knight would surely include bravery, chivalry and a serious code of honor. But most people probably won’t associate them with punctuality. (In reality, the knights of old were probably a boorish lot.)

It’s unfortunate that King Arthur never spoke at length on getting jousting tournaments to start on time, and I find it even worse that there’s a modern English term “fashionably late”.

Fashion is never late, and late is never in fashion, people.

Punctuality frames peoples’ impression of you so quickly. Think about it, for every minute that you have yet to turn up without a good reason or forewarning, your reputation drops in tandem. When you do finally arrive, do you expect people to treat you with a smile or a scowl?

And conversely, for a person who is consistently on time for meetings and dates, people come to know him as rock-solid reliable when it comes to keeping time.

If you have trouble with punctuality, it might help to get a good wristwatch with fresh batteries.

I’m not sure at which point in my life did I begin to value punctuality as a virtue. But definitely before I started work.

Even as a journalist (where is the norm to be “fashionably late”, a terrible excuse for poor time management and slow typing skills), I abhorred being late for press conferences or interviews. What if I missed a great soundbite? What if I missed an awesome photo opportunity?

Yet the PR industry feeds this behavior by organizing events with the expectation that journalists would turn up 30-60min late. So I would be there on time, and yet have to wait an hour for anything significant to happen.

Times are a changing, folks. With greater workloads, more email and less work-life balance, every minute is more precious than ever. If you’re going to be late, at least inform your receiving party in advance with a quick call or SMS.

Don’t assume people have the spare time to wait for you, or that we accept lateness as a practice.

There’s nothing more rude than a person turning up late without any warning, and then when he does appear, he pretends that there’s absolutely nothing wrong.

I regret to say, I won’t let you continue to think that way.

Ok, my time is up. Thanks for reading.

Of Art, Ads and Naked Men

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I was driving into Orchard Road with the family a few weeks ago when I saw the huge billboard (above, from Mr Brown’s site) from Abercrombie & Fitch. I was so stunned that I took a second look and probably put myself at risk of an accident. It was a black and white image of a rippling male body with his genitals barely hiding from view underneath the low-slung jeans.

I said to Goy: “Wow, that picture is going to cause a few accidents.” but left it at that. After all, the billboard did its job of capturing my attention and the male model does have an amazing body. And it was a very well-taken photograph, never mind that it had little to do with A&F apparel at all – such is the nature of brand advertising.

In recent days, the billboard has become a tabloid-style news story. First it was reported that the Advertising Standards Authority of Singapore (ASAS) had suspended the billboard. Then it came to light that the Authority had no authority to do so, since A&F was not part of its group and not beholden to their bidding (which I found was the more newsworthy bit, rather than the near-naked guy). The Media Authority of Singapore  supported ASAS’ call but said that the industry is self-regulated. In short, nobody can take down the ad except A&F themselves, and I’m sure many ad agencies are rubbing their hands in glee thinking about what they can achieve now with their clients.

I don’t know if they’ll ever get the billboard taken down but I oppose such a move on artistic grounds. Yes, we are a conservative society, but we are also living in a wasteland of mediocre visuals and advertisements. If you’ve ever visited Rome, one of the key attractions is a statue of a very nude man – Michelangelo’s David.

I’ve visited the statue twice, and both times, I’ve just sat there staring at the sheer beauty and perfection of the sculpture. No, I’m not gay, but there is something enthralling about the artistic depiction of a human body. And you don’t see people going “eeeee, that man is naked!” because it is undoubtedly art, and it is not vulgar.

And the Christian fundamentalist shouldn’t wrongly compare the story of Adam and Eve who fell into sin and quickly covered their nakedness in front of God – our Creator made them perfect and unclothed but sin caused them to become self-conscious of their bodies. Man would of course fall greater into sin and lose self-control of their bodies, which is what the Bible warns against repeatedly. Then we should also consider what happens when someone views an image that he purports will make him lose self-control of his body – this is the line drawn between art and pornography.

When it comes to art, everyone has the right to disagree on the interpretation. What is vulgar to someone may seem as virtuoso to another. But art is always judged and weighed in the zeitgeist of the times, and overlaid with common standards of morality and sensibility. It is not surprising to see ASAS’ objection to the ad, but one also must ask: “Are there a lot of people who are upset with the ad?” Personally, I haven’t heard anyone complaining and demanding the billboard’s removal. These sort of images, my dear ASAS, are par for the course these days.

And as a Straits Times forum writer pointed out, there are far more vulgar ads going around that ASAS does nothing about. It’s just that they are all smaller than the billboard in size.

I’m more upset with the general low standards of advertising in Singapore which celebrates the lack of wit, creative expression and artistics standards. Marketing managers are happy to adapt the most boring global visuals they can get from their HQ and just get their media agencies to book the ad space – because they don’t know what they can achieve in creating customer excitement. Most of them have never stepped into Bras Basah’s Basheer Books and flipped through the vast collection of award-winning advertising visuals and graphic art, and thought about doing it better themselves.

I’ll be very clear here: I don’t wear Abercrombie apparel, nor am I a fan. I’m a conservative in many ways, but I also appreciate art deeply. I’ve taken my fair share of sexy fashion photos during my photography days and I hope they weren’t seen as vulgar. I’m also very inspired by the billboard’s abs of steel and I shall do more sit-ups tonight.

If ASAS hasn’t gotten it by now, the whole furor has just given A&F the absolute best advertising in town – public controversy where the advertiser hasn’t really done anything illegal. The more ASAS tries to pull the billboard down, the worse it will look on them, because all A&F did was to put up a thought-provoking visual and it turned out that ASAS is really toothless after all its public statements. Bigger powers may step in, and they will be in turn branded as prudes or overreacting by the younger crowd in Singapore.

It’s always amusing to us media and ex-media alumni how stories are generated in Singapore. Many times, newsmakers do not know when they are exposing themselves to ridicule or embarrassment when they decide to go public with something. Then the media has a field day and the newsmaker wonders how did things go this way.

Just leave the billboard alone folks. A&F will change it when next season’s apparel arrives anyway. So far there haven’t been any car accidents right?

The death of the Transformers

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I had little choice but to watch Transformers 3 : Dark Of The Moon. The kids wanted to watch it, and I wanted to watch it.

For them, it was part of the essential pop culture ritual of their childhood. It’s the Star Wars of their generation.

For me, it was to see if Michael Bay would redeem himself from the mess that was Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen.

Sadly, Michael Bay proved that a leopard cannot change its spots – TF3 was a rehash (albeit energetic one) of all the major action scenes from the first two movies, as well as all his other blockbuster movies. And for me, it was a final nail in the coffin for a great franchise that we’ve known and loved since the early 1980s. Here’s why:

The Transformers is not just about Optimus Prime and Bumblebee

I’ve never understood the heavy weightage placed upon Bumblebee in the Bay movies. In the cartoon, he was always one of the weakest Autobots, and his only role was to be Spike Witwicky’s friend. For goodness sake, he was a obsolete VW Beetle.

Ok, so perhaps in the first movie, the major theme was about A Boy and His Robot (ala Harlon Ellison’s A Boy And His Dog). By the third movie, there was no real relationship left between the yellow bot and the perpetually annoying Shia LeBeouf. Yet the emphasis on Bumblebee continued, even though no fan really gives a hoot about him. Meanwhile, other great characters like Jazz and Ironhide with way more personality are killed off flippantly in the movies.

And to add to that, the Bumblebee toys are awfully difficult to transform. More on that in a while.

The same goes for Optimus as well. The kids of today don’t realize it, but Optimus was killed off in the very first Transformers cartoon movie. I suspect the cartoon writers felt that Optimus was too one-dimensional and needed to be replaced with new leadership (ie. Rodimus Prime). It was a shocking development for us kids then, but man, everyone remembers the death of Optimus till today. When they resurrected him time and time again, it got boring – let the dead lie dead please.

Nevertheless Optimus is always a big fan favorite and has been featured in just about every Transformers spin-off or series.

My point is that these two Autobots do not an entire series make.

There are so many great Transformer characters and storylines on either side of the battle lines. The Bay movies have avoided any focus on the relationships between the Transformers, both within and between the factions. The love-hate relationship between Optimus and Megatron was hardly explored, what more the tension between Optimus and Ultra Magnus, the competition between Blaster and Soundwave (and their respective cassette tape minions), the dumb anger of the Dinobots, the constant quarrels between the Constructicons…the list goes on about the many dynamics from just the very first cartoon alone.

Instead Bay chose to focus on the humans, perhaps to save some CGI budget. Unfortunately, the humans in the Transformer movies have never been impressive or endearing. And when gigantic robots are hitting the hell out of each other, what contributions could puny humans possibly make?

What was sad to see in TF2 and TF3 was how Megatron was written as a “by-the-way” character, or used as a deux ex machina to close a plot loophole. How can you treat the biggest schemer on Cybertron as a cameo? Why would Megatron even bow to the Fallen, given that his ego cannot take the damage?

Less Is More, Especially With Robot Design

What upsets a lot of fans till today is the overly complicated and ugly designs of Bay’s Transformers. Very organic in nature, the bots come off looking more like insects than majestic robots.

And the transformations are now way too complex. One great part about the early cartoons was how gracefully the bots would transform from one form to another. I’m pretty sure they designed the toys before the cartoon characters, and the simplicity shows.

In the movies, the characters were designed to be as difficult to transform as possible, and that also led to an entire series of poorly designed Hasbro toys. The irony is that the Transformers has always been a glorified commercial to sell more toys but the movies have just turned me off the toys instead. I told Isaac that we won’t be buying any more Transformer toys until they get easier to manipulate. I usually struggle up to 30min just to transform a simple Level 3 Transformer figurine.

If you don’t believe me, just head to any OG store these days and you’ll see the big Starscream toy being cleared at bargain prices. The original Starscream was a beautiful copy of the F-15 eagle, in primary American colors no less. The Bay Starscream is an ugly grey Raptor that transforms to an even uglier and dull-looking robot.

The awesome Starscream Masterpiece edition of the original 1980s design.

The Bay version of Starscream. The design ugliness is obvious to any human.

Even today, adults get excited over original Transformer designs such as Soundwave, Devastator, the Aerialbots, Bruticus Maximus and so on. They were simple, but they were always impactful.

There Is No Kindness In This Movie

Call it 1980s simplicity, but the Autobots hardly set out to kill anyone. In the movies, the good guys have become so brutal and unforgiving – Optimus stabs, rips out heads and spinal columns, dismantles faces and so on, with no remorse at all. He is even willing to do in his teacher Sentinel Prime without a pause. Optimus is no hero here, he has simply become an angry robot.

When the good guys do not forgive, what are we teaching our kids?

 

 

 

Maid In Singapore

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leticia

The news topic of this week appears to be whether maids should get a legislated day of rest every week. Now I’ll make it clear that I’ve never employed a full-time maid (for my own household), and deliberately so. For the past few years, we’ve relied on a part-time maid who comes in once a week and now that she’s gone home, I’m still mopping the floor like I did when I was 10 years old. I simply don’t want another stranger staying in my house nor deal with her various issues.

That said, a lot of other Singaporean families do employ maids for various reasons. There’s nothing wrong with that, even though it does lead to various side effects like an over-reliance on maids, kids who grow up ordering their maids around, and army boys who can’t carry their own bags. I can sympathize with families with sick elderly folks who need the help of a maid for daily hygiene or exercise, and that is where an extra pair of hands really help.

It is inevitable that the huge population of maids in Singapore will lead to cases where maids get pregnant, work illegally or get into other sorts of trouble. Often, the employer has to bear the frustration of sending the maid home and paying additional money to hire a replacement.

And at the same time, there are many employers who simply don’t know how to manage another person in the house. Too often, we read about maid abuse cases in our media, and despite all the gasps and looks of horror from the audience, the abuse continues to happen whether it is in rich educated households or needy ones.

And you don’t really know if you’ve hired a good or bad worker. We had plenty of trouble with a maid who was hired to look after my mum in her final years, and we were so glad to be rid of her. But I’ve also seen friends who have hired really good people as maids, and saw strong relationships built up over the years.

No matter what, I fully back the proposal for a rest day for maids. As employers, we need to treat our employees the way we want to be treated ourselves. Do unto others, you know.

What strengthened my belief even more are the following letters written to ST Forum in the past few days, arguing why maids shouldn’t be given a day off. I’ve highlighted the sentences that made me seethe, and if you’re an intelligent, un-self-centred, gracious person, you’d immediately understand why. I don’t need to go on a rant with the obvious.

The letter writers have their own perspective on things, but I have only this to say to them – put yourself in the shoes of your own maid before you pen these words down. And no, the pathetic fertility rate has nothing to do with whether your maid has a day off or not.

Who says domestic helpers are overworked?

IT IS true that maids should not be treated differently from other workers, and they need rest (‘Consider law to give maids a day off every week: Halimah’; Monday). But do they really need one weekly day off for that? Do they not rest in the course of their work every day?

My current maid has a day off once a month. Every time she comes back from her outings, she appears even more tired and listless, and needs to recuperate from her outing. When she is not around, both my husband and I, who are teachers, have to juggle with the care of our toddlers (two and three years old), besides catching up with whatever work we have not completed in the week.

Singaporeans work very long hours too and while we do not work officially on weekends, many of us catch up with work on weekday evenings and weekends.

My maid has more than enough time to rest daily, when the kids are napping or when my older one is in kindergarten. My maid is the one who goes to bed by nine every night and my husband and I are the ones who are still up way beyond nine to tuck in our children and catch up with school work.

Are maids really that overworked? The many maids congregating and chatting away happily at my condominium on weekdays present a different picture.

My previous maid met her boyfriend on her day off and even while we were at work. I have also heard of other maids doing part-time work on their days off.

The slew of social problems that will result from a weekly day off is unthinkable.

And think of those taking care of old and disabled people. It will not be easy for someone else to take over their duties when they take their day off.

I urge the Government to consider carefully the many factors at play and the consequences of legislating a day off for maids.

Low Ai Choo (Madam)

More days off may not be in maids’ interest

I REFER to the proposal by Madam Halimah Yacob, Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports, to make it mandatory to give maids a day off every week (‘Consider law to give maids a day off every week: Halimah’; Monday).

As much as employers like myself will like to give our maids a day off per week, we are concerned that it may actually not be in their interest. With four days off a month, they will incur more expenses. Many maids who have a day off a week end up not only sending less money home, and having little or no savings, but also incur debts by borrowing from other maids to cover expenses.

They may also become resentful that their pay is not able to pay for their entertainment on these days off.

Some maids may also work illegally on their days off. This puts them at risk of abuse from those who employ them illegally and also put their legal employers at risk with the law.

Sng Choon Kwee

Spare a thought for working mums

I REFER to Minister of State for Community Development, Youth and Sports Halimah Yacob’s call for legislating a weekly day off for domestic helpers (‘Consider law to give maids a day off every week: Halimah’; Monday).

I urge Madam Halimah to look at the issue from the perspective of an ordinary, Singaporean working mother.

As a mother of a preschooler and an infant, having a domestic helper is probably the best solution for me as I would like to make full use of my hard-earned degree, remain in the competitive workforce and contribute to the nation’s economic growth while supporting the Government’s call to have more babies. Without a domestic helper to look after the children, one of the parents will have to stay at home.

Amid soaring inflation, rocketing housing prices and a dipping total fertility rate, is it appropriate to consider a weekly day off for domestic helpers at this juncture? If the Government would like to hear more babies cry, the answer is a clear no.

Moreover, does having a weekly day off ease the stress and overworking problems faced by domestic helpers? They may have to complete their chores before or after their day off. Essentially, they are left with less time to do the same chores. In this case, a weekly day off seems to worsen the problem.

Instead, inculcating a different mindset that looks at domestic helpers as part of the family may help. When the domestic helper is regarded as part of the family, she feels more comfortable and less likely to be stressed. Do we overwork our family members? No.

With many Singaporean households relying on domestic helpers to keep the house running, any change in the existing legislation is going to affect a large number of people.

It is not assumptive to conclude that a weekly day off for domestic helpers will have a negative impact on the fertility rate and the number of mothers in the workforce.

Fu Sze Sze (Madam)

You can make the Tissue Issue go away

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tissue

Story on the Tissue Issue in the Straits Times, 28th Apr 2011

My friends would know that I’ve been strongly against the use of tissue packets to book seats in food courts ever since it first cropped up years ago. Today, several letters were published in The Straits Times on the matter defending both sides of the story:

User defends tissue-booking culture

I HAVE always been puzzled by the complaints about booking foodcourt and hawker centre tables with tissue paper or packets (‘It’s uniquely Singaporean and very rude’; April 26).

Booking by tissue paper is the only functional and practical way for customers to dine at a foodcourt.

The issue is not about a lack of graciousness and politeness. No practical person in a crowded foodcourt would want to buy his food first – for example, a boiling bowl of noodles – before table space is assured.

If the patron comes with a group of people, one or more persons can reserve a table and most patrons usually accept such a practice. The problem arises when the patron is alone. The dilemma is, if she gets the food first, what happens if there is no table space? And if she waits till there is a table space first, who will keep a space for her?

Necessity is the mother of invention and thus, Singaporeans invented the tissue reservation system.

The crux of the matter is that all should agree on a first-come-first-reserved system, whether the reservation is done by a restaurant waiter putting a reserved sign, family and friends sitting at the table, or leaving a handbag or a packet of tissue.

The system should apply even if a patron dines with a group of family or friends. Everyone can order a meal simultaneously and hence finish their meal and leave faster so that others can use the table.

Ho Seng Beng

MR ADAM REUTENS-TAN: ‘Placing a tissue packet to reserve a seat is a flippant act of arrogance and egocentricity (‘An issue with tissue on road to graciousness’ by Mr Francis Cheng; April16). It sends the signal that the one who placed the tissue packet is more important than the one who is patiently waiting for a seat with food in hand. Hawker centres and foodcourts are public areas where it is first-come-first-use; there are no reservations. In fact, leaving a nondescript item such as a packet of tissue may actually constitute littering.’

MR ANTHONY OEI: ‘There is nothing wrong in reserving seats in foodcourts because we do make reservations elsewhere. When a diner finds an empty table at a foodcourt, he is entitled to it and stakes his claim by placing a tissue paper packet, his bag or other articles on it, while he orders his food. Of course, one should be gracious by sharing a table with other diners if one is alone and there is a seat or two to spare. Let us be tolerant and accept that it is all right to reserve seats in foodcourts and that it is not a rude act peculiar to Singapore.’

MR ARTHUR LIM: ‘Enforcement actions should be taken to stamp out such ill habits (‘The tissue issue that won’t go away’; April 28). Why not have a sign to say that the use of tissue packs to reserve tables is prohibited? In the case of a group or couple, one should stay behind so as to inform others, in a civilised manner, that the table is occupied. If one is there alone, there are others like him who are on their own and will wait for a vacant seat. The tissue-reservation habit has nothing to do with culture, but everything to do with being selfish and inconsiderate.’

MS THERESA LOO: ‘The reason this rude and anti-social behaviour is thriving is because we encourage it by not doing anything about it (‘An issue with tissue on road to graciousness’ by Mr Francis Cheng; April 16). I suggest that when we are looking for a table and see tables with packets of tissue on it, we should just gently push the packets aside, sit boldly, and eat our food. This is to show that reserving tables with packets of tissue does not count, is not a rule, and not Singapore’s culture. This is to teach those who are anti-social a lesson in courtesy and decency.’

MR PARRY TAN: ‘The article (‘The tissue issue that won’t go away’; April 28) had quoted someone as saying that she would throw away the tissue packets used to reserve seats. Think about the time wasted should one person in the group have to stay behind just to tell other potential diners that the seats are reserved. A high turnover would result in more seats being available for more people. If everyone were to substitute packets of tissue paper with bags or more substantial and valuable belongings, would this still be considered rude? A packet of tissue paper is a cheap and riskless form of collateral. It is as simple as that.’

 

I think the letters above save me the hassle of writing a long essay on how I feel. But here’s a quick summary anyway:

It’s not intelligent – a pack of tissue paper does not indicate ownership or identification. Anyone can claim that that pack of tissue was his/hers. And when it is thrown away (by cleaners or by other customers), the original owner cannot claim that it was there to begin with.

And for those who argue that it is less risky to use a pack of tissues versus their own handbags, you are already implying that you don’t need people to identify the importance and ownership of your seat reservation.

After all, if the pack is not valuable, I can throw it away for you right? 

It’s not perpetuated by the lonely – unlike what Mr Ho Beng Seng claims, this action is more rampant among groups of people than those who are alone. It is herd mentality at its most ungracious, since they could have asked one of the group to stay behind.

So what happens if you’re alone and have no seat? Either get more friends or gently ask someone if you can occupy the empty seat at their table. I do that all the time and while it’s never fun to sit with strangers, I am visiting the foodcourt to fill my stomach and not be a social butterfly.

And to those in a group who say that reserving seats with human bodies wastes time and increases waiting times at the foodcourt, perhaps you can consider how more considerate it is if you can ask your friend to buy food for you so others can get their seats even faster.

Don’t like the food your friend is ordering for himself? Oh that’s your problem, I can’t help you there. But it still doesn’t give you an excuse to use a tissue paper and make yourself look ungracious and selfish.

Enforcement is unnecessary – Why waste taxpayers’ monies on hiring people just to stop this ungracious action when you can throw away the packets of tissues yourself? Stop having a crutch mentality if you really want Singapore to be a more gracious society, like the old song taught us : “There’s a role for everyone”. And you also make the cleaners’ lives easier.

The bottomline is that I will not hesitate to throw away any packets of tissue paper if I (or my group of friends) need a seat. Because I don’t know who could have possibly done such a silly thing.

Oh wait a minute.

Is throwing away such tissue packs ungracious in itself? An act of intrusion and rudeness against someone else’s system of equality? A disregard for other people’s feelings? Look at this issue both ways and the same arguments will appear, but I believe in the lesser of two evils to generate a greater good – a stop to such unclassy and illogical group behavior.